The year of combats

A female team does brainstorming during the contest

Co-organised by Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) and the Ministry of Science and Information & Communication Technology (MOSICT) a grand ceremony kicked off the contest.

"Besides participating in programming contests and producing programmers, IIUC is also trying to encourage programmers all over the nation," said Dr. A K M Azharul Islam, Vice Chancellor, IIUC while presiding over the opening ceremony. Islam also urged the necessity of e-learning in the national academic curriculum.

Post and Telecommunication Minister Barrister Aminul Haque inaugurated the ceremony as chief guest and admired IIUC 's venture for hosting such an important event. He pointed out that such contests act as a boon to education.

"A standard university environment is necessary for creating dynamic students," said Haque. The Minister promised to establish a digital telephone exchange at the campus as well as a post office in Kumira.

"Hopefully by next year, IIUC will be connected to the optical fiber channel, which will run along the border of this campus," informed Haque.

A mock contest followed the inauguration ceremony, while the final competition was held the following day, at the central library hall of the university. Over 280 students from more than 42 academic institutions of the nation participated at the contest in 70 teams.

A total of 154 problems were solved at the contest and online updates were available upon solving each problem, which made the contest livelier.

"The total number of problems solved portrays the rising enthusiasm and potential of students in programming," said Dr M Kaykobad, Professor Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) at the prize ceremony, which was held later that night.

Later, Shahriar Manzoor of the CSE department of South East University and the chief judge of NCPC 2004 announced BUET Explorer as the champion, for solving 7 problems in 1065 minutes.

BUET XTreme took the second position by solving 6 problems in 988 minutes, while 'Golden Amalgam' from East West University came in third, solving 6 problems in 1032 minutes leaving Notredame College Hexadecimal in fourth position.

The mighty BUETs did not stop at the second and third position, as BUET Triumph snatched the best female team award along with the fifth position.

"Through such contests we have motivated the young to improvise and strengthen their programming skills and generate more programmers for this nation," said Dr A K M Azharul Islam, vice chancellor, IIUC before handing over the prizes among the winners and pulling down the curtains on NCPC 2004.